Achieving the American Dream

On November 13, The Pew Charitable Trusts released three reports from their Economic Mobility Project. The series presents information about various aspects to economic mobility - they look at the issue from generational, racial, and gender-focused lenses. "Economic Mobility of Families Across Generations" by Julia Isaacs finds that generally adults who were in their 30s and 40s in 2000 had more income than their parents' generation. Some of this can be explained by women entering the workforce and a decrease in family size. Also, the report states that 2 out of 3 Americans have higher family incomes than their parents did, and the higher the parents' income, the higher the income of their adult children.

However, the news isn't all good, which probably comes as no big surprise to many of us. We don't all have the same likelihood of attaining the "American Dream". Children of low-income parents are most likely to be low-income as well. Isaacs's "Economic Mobility of Black and White Families" discusses even more alarming findings showing the majority of black children of middle-income parents fall below their parents in income and economic status.

What do we do with this information? It's obviously a very complicated issue with many questions to be answered before a coherent response can be formulated. What is it about our society - the economics and culture of America that creates a world wherein the American Dream really is still just a dream for so many people? One starting point is to think about how to help families attain self-sufficient wages and build savings. Furthermore, financial literacy should be part of any standard education. If we want to help ourselves and each other attain the American Dream we need to know specifically how to get there. United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley has just launched a new Financial Education toolkit that provides information about curricula and other resources.

This is a starting point, but the continuing dialogue about economic mobility and financial stability is one we all have a responsibility to take part in.